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K-19: THE WIDOWMAKER Send This Review to a Friend
I wonder what the Russians will make of Harrison Ford and Liam Neeson playing Soviet submarine officers in the Cold War action saga set in 1961 and told from a Russian point of view. From this side of the world "K-19: The Widowmaker" comes across as expertly made, generally tense and a better than average underwater yarn. But its ultimate plot twist settling clashing loyalties conflicts with what we have seen, even though that still doesn't spoil a rather touching ending that takes place years later and celebrates the dedication of the crew in the face of callousness on the part of the higher-ups more interested in hiding failure.
Ford plays Aleksei Vostrikov, who takes over as captain of the new nuclear sub K-19, which is being sent on a mission that includes firing a test missile and demonstrating to the United States the prowess of Soviet military might. But the ship is not ready. It is a case of rushing ahead to meet political and military decisions without regard to the safety of the crew or the sub. Vostrikov is also personally gung-ho, and at sea he insists on pushing the ship beyond safety requirements, both out of loyalty to his superiors and his own ambition. His father had been a military hero and, later, a political prisoner. Ford does a solid job as a character with something to prove.
Liam Neeson as next in command, Mikhail Polenin, formerly in charge before Vostrikov was sent to take over, is more realistic and concerned with his men as well as duty to country. The situation is a set up for the confrontations we know must come. The real believability trouble lies later, when there are muddled efforts to wipe away Vostrokov's reckless behavior and see him as a hero after all, even though by that time the toll of his behavior has been painfully high. This strictly Hollywood stuff encumbers the screenplay by Christopher Kyle, who based it on a story by Louis Nowra.
However, director Kathryn Bigelow is well-known as a whiz at action and she's in good form here. The tension rarely lets up when a leak triggers the danger of a nuclear meltdown that, in addition to dooming the sub and crew, will result in a catastrophic explosion larger than what occurred at Hiroshima, destroy a nearby U.S. Navy vessel and perhaps touch off nuclear war. Men who try to repair the leak are devastated by radiation, which also spreads through the boat. What to do? The confrontation between Vostrikov and Polenin mounts, as do the histrionics. Abandon and scuttle the sub? Get help from the Americans at a nearby NATO base? It is the resolution of all of this that distorts matters. Still, it is interesting to have a film that comes across as a frightening reminder of how much danger the world was in, and probably still is, albeit from different sources, and how good and loyal servicemen can be misused by those with superceding goals in mind.
Note: I've griped about use of music before, and this is another case in which a thunderous score pounds along so incessantly that it never lets us forget we are watching a movie. At a few points when the music is turned off and all we hear is what passes for natural sound the film is most tense. Won't producers and directors ever learn this? A Paramount Pictures release.
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